England teams win both Home International Shore Championships in Wales [/b]

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England teams win both Home International Shore Championships in Wales

England win championships by narrow margin
The Home International Shore Championships 2009 were hosted by Wales in Aberystwyth this year. Each of the four home nations take it in turns to host this team event which includes junior and youth teams, fished over two days. England was represented by; David Chidzoy, David Lane, Bill Lindfield, Rob Marshall, Julian Shambrook, Paul Molyneux, and Norman Berry (Manager).

Wales were this year’s host and their team was well fancied to win this event, although the England team were determined to make life difficult for them as they were in with a chance of a hat trick, having won in Ireland and England the two previous years.

Day one saw England pegged on a flat, shallow, sandy, featureless beach, the home of small flatfish, not really their ideal type of fishing but they knew what was required. With half an hour to go before the end of the match England were ahead by one point. At the final whistle the other teams all pulled in sizeable fish which this dropped England behind Wales and Scotland. Day two dawned dull and damp, not ideal weather to lift team spirits.

The day started with team member Bill Lindfield pulling in a double shot of dogfish on his first cast, and the team were doing well in three zones and with an hour to go the England team were ahead by seven points on the day and ahead overall by four points. At the final whistle England were the winners by 3 points, making it a hat-trick of wins.

After the event there was a presentation for the retirement of Joe Crowley, the Juniors manager, and a presentation for all of the managers. Many thanks to Mike Flynn and Helen Pearce for the organisation of the event, flawless. Nice hotel, fine food, presentation and dinner super, and all the teams are looking forward to Scotland in 2010.

England Juniors triumph in Aberystwyth
The Juniours event was also hosted at Aberystwyth this on 10th & 11th July. The England Junior team on the day was Michael Dawkins, Dan Warman, Steven Rathbone, Ollie Mears, Callum Graham, Bryony Langley (Reserve), Joyce Rogers (Manager), and John Gardner (Assistant Manager). Although Bryony did not fish the matches she supported her team members by working hard as a runner on the beaches.

All the team proved to be exceptionally good anglers who listened to the advice from their Manager, Joyce Rogers. The tactic was to try different tackle and distances throughout the matches, and to remain focused. After a disappointing first match the team coped under pressure from the competing team, and pulled off an amazing finish to take the Gold medal position and win with 25 points in total. The runners up, Ireland, finished on 22 points (46 fish caught). The bronze medal went to Scotland with 22 points (43 fish caught), and Wales finished in fourth position to take home dark bronze with 21 points. The junior team have now won two gold medals and one silver medal in the last three years.

Joyce Rogers, Team Manager stated, “They worked as a team and asked for advice if they felt they needed it. I was very proud to be the Manager of these juniors who have succeeded in winning the gold medal. We would also like to offer our appreciation and thanks to TRONIX who provides sponsorship of prizes for the team.â€

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